Airport month record
LGAJAN
LaGuardia in January 2026
- Departures
- 11,099
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at LGA, see live FAA status.
LGA in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 7.8% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about four flights in five arrive on time, worth a B− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 11,099 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 978 at 85.8% on time.
Southwest Airlines is the most reliable of the seven carriers covered here at 85.8% on time across 978 flights.
Key figures
On time
78.9%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 10,223 completed departures
Avg delay
66 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
7.77%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
73.4%
LGA across all twelve months
These figures cover 11,099 departures from LaGuardia in January 2026. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.
Against the year
January next to LGA's other months
Against LGA's own year, January ran 6 points better than the twelve-month rate of 73.4%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 7.77% of scheduled departures were called off, 1.7 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 62.2% on time and February 78.5%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 11,696 | 68.0% | 106 min | 8.76% | C− |
| August 2025 | 11,582 | 81.0% | 81 min | 1.79% | B |
| September 2025 | 11,388 | 82.4% | 77 min | 0.89% | B+ |
| October 2025 | 12,002 | 66.8% | 68 min | 2.58% | C |
| November 2025 | 11,577 | 67.9% | 78 min | 3.63% | C− |
| December 2025 | 11,361 | 62.2% | 74 min | 4.81% | D− |
| January 2026 (this page) | 11,099 | 78.9% | 66 min | 7.77% | B− |
| February 2026 | 10,307 | 78.5% | 66 min | 8.22% | B− |
| March 2026 | 11,660 | 67.9% | 77 min | 9.73% | C− |
| April 2026 | 11,443 | 76.5% | 69 min | 0.95% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 11,375 | 75.4% | 68 min | 1.83% | B |
| June 2026 | 10,877 | 75.3% | 81 min | 4.16% | B− |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave LGA in January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 11 points, against 20 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,632 flights85.6%
- 8am–11am2,166 flights83.1%
- 11am–2pm1,922 flights80.1%
- 2pm–5pm2,228 flights74.9%
- 5pm–8pm1,905 flights74.2%
- 8pm–5am1,246 flights75.3%
Scale runs 65% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 85.6% of the time, against 74.2% for the evening window. That is 11 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 2pm–5pm window is the busiest, with 2,228 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 86.5% on time and Sunday the weakest at 63.3%. 23 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at LGA in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 85.8% of the time; JetBlue Airways manages 66.1%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 403 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Airways | 4,600 | 79.0% | 61 min | 9.37% | B− |
| Delta Air Lines | 2,366 | 78.7% | 64 min | 5.41% | B− |
| American Airlines | 1,383 | 78.7% | 100 min | 10.12% | B− |
| Southwest Airlines | 978 | 85.8% | 45 min | 4.81% | A− |
| United Airlines | 595 | 82.0% | 51 min | 4.54% | B− |
| Spirit Airlines | 547 | 76.1% | 64 min | 9.69% | B− |
| JetBlue Airways | 403 | 66.1% | 72 min | 6.20% | C− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 183 | 70.9% | 79 min | 4.37% | C− |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 44 | 70.7% | 39 min | 6.82% | C− |
American Airlines cancels 10.1% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of LGA in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LGA to ORD · Chicago | 951 | 76.5% | 66 min | 8.10% | B− |
| LGA to ATL · Atlanta | 734 | 82.2% | 70 min | 5.86% | B− |
| LGA to MIA · Miami | 563 | 75.1% | 73 min | 7.28% | B− |
| LGA to BOS · Boston | 542 | 82.5% | 64 min | 8.49% | B− |
| LGA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 535 | 78.1% | 85 min | 10.65% | B− |
| LGA to MCO · Orlando | 512 | 75.4% | 65 min | 5.66% | B− |
| LGA to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 459 | 72.1% | 63 min | 6.32% | C− |
| LGA to DCA · Washington | 403 | 68.0% | 54 min | 8.44% | C− |
| LGA to DEN · Denver | 382 | 82.6% | 40 min | 3.66% | B− |
| LGA to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 349 | 82.1% | 62 min | 8.60% | B− |
| LGA to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample | 339 | 66.9% | 63 min | 7.08% | C− |
| LGA to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 336 | 80.1% | 112 min | 10.12% | B− |
| LGA to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 307 | 84.0% | 57 min | 8.47% | B− |
| LGA to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 289 | 84.0% | 80 min | 4.50% | B− |
| LGA to TPA · Tampathin sample | 276 | 73.2% | 74 min | 5.07% | C− |
| LGA to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 262 | 79.7% | 72 min | 8.02% | B− |
| LGA to PIT · Pittsburghthin sample | 231 | 80.6% | 66 min | 8.23% | B− |
| LGA to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 217 | 80.8% | 59 min | 11.06% | B− |
| LGA to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 215 | 85.6% | 45 min | 6.51% | A− |
| LGA to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 197 | 88.9% | 39 min | 4.06% | A− |
| LGA to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 182 | 81.4% | 62 min | 8.24% | B− |
| LGA to RIC · Richmondthin sample | 168 | 79.5% | 70 min | 10.12% | B− |
| LGA to GSO · Greensborothin sample | 162 | 79.7% | 81 min | 11.73% | B− |
| LGA to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 150 | 84.6% | 63 min | 4.67% | B− |
| LGA to BUF · Buffalothin sample | 145 | 77.0% | 76 min | 6.90% | B− |
Delay causes
What held LGA up in January
Carriers report a reason for every delay minute they cause, in five DOT categories. The split below is by minutes, not by number of flights, so a handful of very long weather delays weighs as much as many short ones. It covers 143,000 reported delay minutes.
- 40%Late-arriving aircraft
- 33%Carrier
- 24%National Airspace System
- 4%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
40% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 143,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 11 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 142,525 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 7.77%, against 4.71% nationally. That is about one flight in twelve cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.
7.5% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.6%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
What to do with this
Flying from LGA in January
For a January trip through LGA: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 78.9% on time with 7.77% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.
Related
Where to go next
- LaGuardia (LGA), the whole year
- LGA in July68.0%
- LGA in August81.0%
- LGA in September82.4%
- LGA in October66.8%
- LGA in November67.9%
- LGA in December62.2%
- LGA in February78.5%
- LGA in March67.9%
- LGA in April76.5%
- LGA in May75.4%
- LGA in June75.3%
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.